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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579455">Not Your Dirty Little Secret</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_nightengale/pseuds/lady_nightengale'>lady_nightengale</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stardew Valley (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Break Up, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Sneaking Around</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:01:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>975</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_nightengale/pseuds/lady_nightengale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of sneaking around, Marnie is tired of hiding her relationship with Lewis. She's an adult woman who wants a real relationship, and if Lewis won't give it to her, then maybe it's time for her to look somewhere else.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lewis/Marnie (Stardew Valley)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Not Your Dirty Little Secret</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marnie sat back against the pillows, her arms folded across her chest, as she watched Lewis tuck his shirt back into his pants. The sex had been anti-climactic—literally. Marnie still had her t-shirt on, and Lewis had grunted over her for a few minutes until he’d climaxed. He’d squeezed her breast a few times, but hadn’t put in much more effort than that.<br/>
The words Marnie had long held back were stuck in her throat.<br/>

Lewis finished tidying himself, then reached for the door. “I think I’d better be off,” he said.<br/>

“Lewis, wait.”<br/>

“Marnie, Jas will be home from tutoring soon, and we wouldn’t want her to know I’d been here now, would we?”<br/>

Marnie pushed back the covers and stood up. “That’s just it. Lewis, I’m tired of keeping our relationship a secret. It was fun when we started… Sneaking around made me feel like a scandalous teenager. But I’m not a teenager. I’m a 38-year-old woman, and I’m tired of hiding what we are to each other.”<br/>

Lewis sighed. “Marnie, come on. We’ve been over this. The people of the town look up to me; it would compromise my authority if people knew we were sleeping together.”<br/>

“Why would it, though? It’s not like you’re sleeping with Abigail or one of the other kids, for Yoba’s sake. We’re two adults in a consensual relationship. Celibacy is not part of the mayoral code, as far as I know. Why would it be so terrible for people to know about us?”<br/>

Lewis pinched the bridge of his nose as if the conversation were giving him a headache. “I don’t know how else to explain it to you. I am not comfortable going public with this relationship. You knew that when this all started. Nothing has changed.”<br/>

The wave of anger that had been building in Marnie broke. She yanked on her jeans and opened the door. “Nothing has changed? In the past two years that we’ve been fucking, nothing has changed? You haven’t grown to care more about me, haven’t come to respect me enough to compromise?” She glared at Lewis. “I am no one’s dirty little secret. I deserve more than that. And since you won’t give that to me, you and I are done.”<br/>

Marnie stormed out of the house, leaving Lewis looking bemused in the hallway. He could let himself out, and if Jas showed up, he could say that he was just there looking after her “business needs.”<br/>

Angry tears slid down her cheeks. She marched through the woods towards town, barely registering where she was going but knowing that she needed to get away. Her affair with Lewis had been good, for a while. She’d been lonely; he’d been lonely. He was kind and firm and powerful, and she’d found sleeping with an older man exciting. They’d have sex in the woods, in the bushes, wherever they could find a hidden spot. He’d never been the best lover, but he was attentive, at least at first. But over the months, he’d stopped paying attention. They’d rarely been fully naked in months, and a quick grope of her breasts was as much as Lewis would do for foreplay.<br/>

Anger, shame, disappointment, and embarrassment roiled inside Marnie, bringing on a fresh bout of tears. As she wiped her eyes on her sleeve, she crashed into someone and suddenly found herself tumbling to the ground.<br/>

Marnie looked up to see Harvey on the ground beside her, looking shocked.<br/>

“What on earth—” Harvey’s annoyance at being knocked over vanished as he saw Marnie’s face.<br/>

“Woah, hey, it’s okay!” he said. “Don’t worry about—are you—”<br/>

As Harvey spluttered at her, trying to figure out what to say, Marnie burst into tears again. To her surprise, Harvey scooted over next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.<br/>

“Hey, shhhh, it’s okay, I’ve got you.”<br/>

Marnie hardly knew Harvey, but she couldn’t remember the last time someone was there to hold her and tell her everything would be alright. She turned her head into Harvey’s shoulder and sobbed, letting out all of her pain as Harvey held her against him and rubbed her back.<br/>

When her tears finally slowed, she rubbed her eyes and sat up. Harvey handed her a tissue and she blew her nose, then looked up at him in horror.<br/>

“God, Harvey, I’m so sorry. Your shoulder is soaked; I’m so sorry; god, I’m so embarrassed.” Marnie hid her face in her hands. Never in her adult life had she felt more like a foolish teenager.<br/>

Harvey put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her away from her knees.<br/>

“Whatever is happening, I am happy to help,” he said, his voice firmer than she had ever heard it. “It doesn’t matter what it is—no, please don’t feel like you need to explain—you needed a hug and a cry. Everyone needs a shoulder and some human kindness sometimes.”<br/>

Marnie was speechless. She looked up at him and managed a smile. Harvey stood, then offered her a hand.<br/>

“If you ever want to talk, or have a drink, or, or, or something, you know where to find me.” Harvey ran a hand through his hair. “To be honest, I don’t know many people in town that well yet, and, well, I could use a friend. By the looks of things, maybe you could too.”<br/>

Despite everything, the return of Harvey’s awkwardness brought the return of Marnie’s smile. “Thank you, Harvey. I’d really like that.”<br/>

Harvey smiled at her, then turned and walked back across the square to the clinic. Marnie watched him go, then, feeling confident that Lewis would have cleared out quickly to avoid running into Jas or Shane, turned back down the path toward her house, feeling freer than she had in a long, long time.</p>
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